Westworld Ho! - Trace Decay

Dear Man in Black,

I feel your pain sir.  Or is it flat out consternation?  Well, throw in a dash of confusion and there you have it.

When the MiB, who has seen everything Westworld can throw at him, the countless ages, the endless "loops" has a look like that on his face, then you know something big is going to happen.

Despite being tied up by Teddy, MiB was in his usual arrogant mood.  His familiarization with story lines and the boundaries that Teddy is governed by, lent him that confident and casual air.  Even when he observed Angela and Theodore entering a new story he remained sanguine.

The color only ran from his face when he saw this...

At least we know where the wild things are.

What are these things?  Supposedly, Wyatt's minions.  So does that make them Hosts too?  Shouldn't they be?  They certainly seem impervious to bullets like a Guest would be.  But nothing a little knife and axe work can't handle.

Here's a look at the beastie that attacked the MiB and Teddy at their camp. 

He (she?) sure is a fearsome looking brute.  The horned mask suggests a demonic presence as does the obscured face.  The overcoat is beset with buttons and other flourishes suggesting a military uniform as does its high collar.  However the coat does nothing to suggest it belongs to either the Union forces or the Confederados.

One would assume this odd amalgamation is designed to just instill fear.  Over-sized fur epaulets?

This wasn't the only sighting of Wyatt's Wild things. 

There's one pictured on Sizemore's storyboard just to the left of Charlotte Hale.  Hale continues to tempt Sizemore with a larger role in the parks hierarchy.  Post Dr. Ford of course.  She's making a power play and all the while also playing Sizemore as a dupe.

Back to the Wild Things.

The one pictured next to Hale is slightly different.  The horns aren't set quite like the one that attacked Teddy's camp.  The overcoat is quite similar but it is carrying a sword instead of an axe.  Cutting instruments seem important to the Wild Things.  More powerful against Guests?

The fact that one is included in Sizemore's "Wyatt" story line is intriguing.  If memory serves, Dr. Ford employed them earlier when he concocted a new narrative for Teddy.  One would think Dr. Ford is using the Wild Things knowing Sizemore is employing them too.  That way, Ford could blame anything that goes wrong on Sizemore.  If we can lay this at Ford at all.  This may be an Arnold thing.

For her part, Hale may want to use Wyatt and his Wild Things to counter any move by Ford and presumably lay the blame at his feet.  Sooo...


Hale's Counter Moves

Abernathy!

I was hoping we would see him again.  I had posited that he should be included in a list of suspects that may have absconded with Elsie.  That thinking may have changed considerably.  More on that soon.

Hale's plans to spirit the Westworld propriety information may have failed with the outing and "accident" to befall Theresa Cullen.  Now, it looks as though Abernathy will be used as a vessel to get that information out of the park.  Assuming he doesn't explode that is.  That's what writers are for right?  Start writing Sizemore.  

If Sizemore plans to write Abernathy through the park and out, then won't it be possible he may run into Maeve?  She too needs to leave the  park.  Add to this, William wants to get Dolores back to Sweetwater.  What are the odds Dolores runs into her old Dad there?  Pretty good I'd say.  I wonder how much trace memory each one will have for the other?



Disposable Things 

 

There was a lot of weird and wonderful things to like about this last episode of Westworld.  Not the least of which was the conversation between Bernard and Ford at the top of the episode.  

It wasn't long before we realized Ford was talking to the self-aware version of Bernard.  I don't know about you, but the repercussions of a self-aware A.I. and his creator talking to each other are, I don't know, Biblical.

Just imagine what is going through Bernard's head when he comes to grips with his artificiality, the fact that he murdered his former lover and the astounding revelation that Ford tells hem he has a heart!

Time for a memory wipe!

Poor Bernard, all of this comes flooding into his consciousness and then Ford tells him,

"Best not to dwell on these troubling memories, otherwise you might be drawn back into them."   

It's okay to have a heart Dr. Ford but not a soul?  (Hmm, is that the ultimate endgame for Westworld?)

Ford always thinks he is doing his Hosts a favor by wiping out their memories.  Sparing them the pain but robbing them of their soul.  Truly he is Dr. Frankenstein.  (Whom he quoted earlier.)  

Things are so disposable for Ford.

 

We get that juxtaposition of the Host's laying in waste as Bernard goes about his chores.  Then we get the ash of the time Bernard spent with Theresa.  Chilling.

 

Sylvester is needed until he isn't.

The new Clementine doesn't have much of a shelf life.

Settler Maeve and her daughter.  Slaughtered for a test.

The poor boy that died before Dolores and William.  (Did William kill him off camera?)

 

Dolores sees herself fallen. Her mission incomplete.

Naturally, Sizemore has to double down on disposability by having cannibalism introduced into his new narrative.

Is this what Westworld is trying to tell us?  That we are some much churn?  An endless loop of life and death without meaning?

That is brutally defeatist.  If I were a betting man I would say the eventual battle will be about heart and soul.

Oh wait, one last disposable...

   
So, have finally found out the fate of Elsie?  This was rather inglorious.  Reduced to an after thought in a flashback for Bernard.  He had asked Dr. Ford if he had ever done anything else like Theresa Cullen.  Of course not Bernard.  Yet that trace memory was there before it decayed.

I had thought Elsie may have been captured by Butts, Abernathy or Cottage Dad.  Was it really Bernard?  Or did he just choke her to silence her?

It doesn't look good for the intrepid Elsie but we will see.


Down By the River

Another mystery was solved when Dolores found what she was looking for.

Home.

Down by the lazy river where people come and go, they lean to dance and children are inquisitive.

Thanks for asking young lady.  It's good to be ho...Bang!  Was that a gunshot?

Yes it was, with plenty more to follow.  This is Lawrence's daughter.  The one that help point the way to the Maze for the MiB earlier in the season.  I'm thinking she is the mouthpiece for Arnold.  The artificial intelligence Arnold I'm hoping.  Things went straight to Hell right after this little conversation culminating in this.

After the carnage of what seems to be a training session early on for the Hosts, Dolores watches as she puts a gun to her own head.

This real but decaying memory could be very significant.  

My first thoughts were that Dolores was responsible for the carnage and she then took her own to finish the reset.

Yes, reset.  What else could it be?  Who is responsible for the delirious Dolores? Is this part of the possible war that led to the fallout between Arnold and Dr. Ford?

My thinking is, Ford sent Dolores to her home to wipe the slate clean.  Arnold was making progress with his own vision of the park and it's nascent Hosts and Ford would have none of that.  

What cinches this theory for me is what Dolores says at the end of her quick cut rapid fire memory burst.

"This is what Arnold wants."

I tried to capture the dream sequence and was somewhat successful.  Here's what essentially happened.

• An ominous bell tolls as images flash by.
• We see the desolate church steeple and then the whole one.
• A mysterious face behind a gilded door.
• Dolores appears briefly.  Eyes red rimmed and behind a yellow candle.
• A hand cranks what appears to be a music player.
• A woman cries out on her knees surrounded by bodies.  Angela?
• The church door is zoomed in on.
• A dirt image of the Maze appears.

That bell picked up it's pace as the video proceeded and was pretty spooky.  There seems to be some significance between the new and the wrecked church (Duh.)  Was that Dolores that appears behind that fancy door?  Her's is the next face we see albeit very briefly.   Her eyes are red rimmed as if she had been crying.  There is a candle in the foreground.  Is she in the Church and perhaps attending a funeral?

Above is a recently released picture from, "The Well Tempered Clavier."  The "fancy door" I spoke of is now fully pictured and it was indeed the face of Dolores behind the door.  The candles and the door suggest she is inside the Church.  Is she coming out of a confessional or some sort of alcove?  

It's worthy to note she is in her riding garb as opposed to the "prairie girl outfit" she wore at the end of the "rapid fire memory" when she held a gun to her head.  So, is this not a flashback?  William was intent on getting her back to Sweetwater so either this is happening in a new Church setup or the flashbacks keep recycling and this particular one has been updated to mark her progress.  

Maybe Dolores is getting closer to Arnold.

Let's continue on to the rest.

I'm thinking that hand cranked device is some sort of music machine.  (A Clavier?)  Perhaps it provided the music for the dancing lesson.  I'm beginning to wonder if it also provides some sort of subliminal instructions for the Hosts if not just Dolores.  The music may have instructed her to shoot all the Host and then herself in order to establish the reset or counter coup if you will.  It also reminds me of the player piano that is in every episode.  Is it also cranking out subliminal messages?  I bet it is and it will play a large role in the finale.

The crying woman on her knees surrounded by bodies seems to be Angela.  She's the woman that survived the Wyatt massacre that Teddy and the MiB happened upon.  She seemed oddly aware of Teddy's status and acutely aware of his role.  Is she part of the reset and that is why she got a small role in the flashback dream?

The Church door is quickly zoomed in on as if it is beckoning you to enter and then we get the maze scrawled into the earth.  So the Maze is tied to entering the Church?  Is that why the Church lies in ruin now?   

Enter the Church, find the Maze and save the Cheerleader?  (I'm teasing about the Cheerleader for Heroes fans but maybe Dolores plays the Cheerleader here.) 


A-Maze-ing Coincidence

 

So, not only did Dolores see the Maze in her rapid fire memory, the MIB recounted it in his tale of woe to Teddy.

Another mystery is solved here as the two figures centered in the Maze scrawl is Maeve and her daughter. MiB was testing his good versus evil quotient, (I think he failed the "Good" part since he felt nothing of shooting the two and didn't even pick up on his wife's suicide), and after Maeve was shot she staggered to a large maze drawing.  Was this a metaphorical scene or was there really a giant dirt Maze scrawl outside the house?

MiB was shocked at Maeve's advanced behavior and this is likely what started him on his Maze quest.   But why?  To find the last vestige of humanity in artificiality?  


Faces

 

Here's the Angela I've been referring to. She's also known as Parasol Girl and of course the Hostess with the Mostess that welcomed William to Westworld upon his first visit.  She is actress Talulah Riley that was once married to Elon Musk.

Here's a face we could have done without seeing again.  Logan.  Naturally he's joined the Confederados.  I had a theory he may be trapped somewhere deep in the Maze some thirty years after William left him in Pariah.  Well, he's not in Pariah anymore but that doesn't mean William still can't exact some sort of revenge on him.  Especially if he threatens Dolores.

This one is a beauty.  It's angry Bernard when he claims he'll no longer follow Ford's murderous plans.  He looks pretty murderous here and he had a flashback to Elsie right around the same time.  Relax Bernie time for your memory wipe.

Think there will be any trace decay?